Koala protection funds tipped to go quick

The Sunshine Coast Koala and Wildlife Rescue Service says the Queensland Government will need to spend more money to protect koalas.

The Government has allocated $22.5 million over the next three years to buy land in areas where koalas are under threat.

The plan applies to 10 council areas in south-east Queensland and rescue service president Ray Chambers says it is a step in the right direction.

He says the money is likely to be exhausted quickly.

“You have a look at Noosa, for example, you’d suck $10 million up straight away there, so it will go quick but they’ve really got to work on now whether the koala numbers are,” he said.

“Like Noosa is virtually the only coastal fringe on the coast, so that’s going to be the high value area, the same through Redlands … on the waterfront there, so it is going to go fast so we need to work out deals.”

Funds for koala sanctuaries ‘inadequate’

Updated: 19:24, Monday August 20, 2012

The Queensland government will be lucky to buy ‘a postage stamp’ with the money it has earmarked for koala sanctuaries, the Australian Koala Foundation says.

The group says the $22.5 million the government has set aside to buy back land in the state’s southeast should be spent on other initiatives to help save koalas.

‘I’m not against buying land … but think about current land prices in southeast Queensland,’ the foundation’s chief executive Deborah Tabart told AAP.

‘It’ll buy a postage stamp.

‘Let’s assume it was a significant amount of money – it still depends on which land you choose.’

Ms Tabart believes the government’s koala habitat maps are inaccurate and out of date, and some of the money would be better spent addressing that problem.

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection Andrew Powell said the maps, which are available on the department’s website, were completed in 2009 and refined in early 2010.

‘The maps are based on a habitat model for koalas that was developed with the oversight of a scientific technical committee of leading koala experts, and verified by extensive ground truthing,’ he told AAP.

Where the maps are used for development decisions, developers are provided with a method of checking their accuracy on the site to make sure values are still accurate.

Mr Powell said his department is also developing a plan to update the koala maps on a regular cycle to maintain their accuracy, using sources such as more up to date satellite imagery and regional ecosystem data.

In April, the federal government said koalas in Queensland, NSW and the ACT would be classified as vulnerable, on advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

About us

This project aims to recommend ways of protecting Koalas and Koala habitats. By presenting the perfect habitat for koalas, the report will establish and illustrate what is needed to maintain existing Koala habitats and to rethink sustainable environments where humans and Koalas can live side by side.

Timber plantations created as part of now-failing managed investment schemes have become places of refuge for koalas as their natural habitat dwindles but, as the plantations are harvested, the native animals face deadly threats, and a warning that this report contains some graphic images.